“It’s Gonna Look a Lot Like the Costa Fight”- Israel Adesanya Envisions a Finish in His Upcoming Title Defense Against Jared Cannonier
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is starting to build quite the resume for himself. ‘The Last Style Bender’ has defended his belt four times now and will be aiming to make it five when he takes on Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 in July at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Adesanya has a tall task ahead of him as he takes on one of the scariest power-punchers, not just in the division but in the UFC period. Ahead of the fight, ‘The Last Style Bender’ made a bold prediction of how his encounter with Cannonier will end.
He said, “He’s [Cannonier] a guy that packs a lot… So I can’t overlook him but I don’t think he’ll be the toughest challenger. Honestly think I’ll make this easy. I really believe I’ll make this look easy come July 3rd… Well, a prediction, I’ll give you a prediction, it’s gonna be fun, it’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna look a lot like the Costa fight minus the little tap-tap at the end.”
Adesanya’s last finish was against Paulo Costa at UFC 253. Since then he has secured two unanimous decision wins where ‘Izzy’ has received a lot of criticism from fans for being a ‘boring’ and ‘safe’ fighter. It appears as though this time around ‘The Last Style Bender’ wants to change that narrative.
A closer look at Israel Adesanya vs Jared Cannonier
For some time now, Adesanya has been wanting to take on Jared Cannonier. After his win over Costa, ‘Izzy’ stated that he wanted to face Cannonier if he was able to secure a win over Whittaker, which did not happen. Now that ‘Killa Gorilla’ is on a two-fight win streak, it makes sense for the UFC to book a fight between the two.
Going into the fight, ‘Izzy’ will have a three-inch reach advantage but a significant advantage in height. It will be interesting to see what approach ‘The Last Style Bender’ approaches this time around, since he is chasing the finish. Will he charge forward and catch Cannonier, or will he wait back and catch Cannonier on the way in? Only time will tell.
